Physical Design Engineer

  • Location:
    Maynard, Massachusetts, US
  • Alternate Location
    Remote
  • Area of Interest
    Engineer - Hardware
  • Compensation Range
    107000 USD - 186800 USD
  • Job Type
    Professional
  • Technology Interest
    AI or Artificial Intelligence, Cloud and Data Center, Networking
  • Job Id
    1444081

The application window is expected to close on: 7/31/25.

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

Acacia designs intelligent transceivers using advanced signal processing and photonic integration for the 100G, 400G and 1T bit speed fiber optic transmission market deployed in data center, metro, long-haul and ultra-long haul telecommunication networks. This role sits on our ASIC team providing infrastructure support for RTL implementation to gates.

Your Impact

You will collaborate with Acacia’s ASIC and Hardware teams in the engineering organization to deliver tape-out quality physical designs.

You will work closely with RTL designers to debug and root-cause physical implementation issues related to design, tools, etc. and arrive at a feasible solution through the augmentation of input and design collateral.

You will work closely with Back-end team on timing signoff for seamless physical design closure.

You will work with the ASIC physical design team to enhance and continuously improve the physical design implementation flow.

Acacia takes pride in providing and fostering a collaborate environment in order ensure success and personal growth.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • BS in Electronics/Electrical Engineering or equivalent with 5+ years of experience in the telecommunications industry
  • At least 5 years of professional engineering experience, including experience in advanced technology nodes: 5nm, 5/4nm, 3nm, and below
  • Experience with industry standard CAD methodologies from Cadence, Synopsys and/or Mentor
  • Experience with floor planning & partitioning, synthesis, place & route, static timing analysis (STA), formal equivalence check, Clock Tree Synthesis, timing closure, signal integrity, physical verification DRC/LVS
  • Scripting experience with TCL, Python and Perl
  • Execution of ASICs from product definition to production release

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience with power analysis, electromigration, IR signoff, process corner decisions, power grid analysis.
  • Ability to manage stakeholders across analog and digital teams while interfacing with EDA vendors on issues/features/enhancements.
  • Solid analytical, communication and presentation skills
  • Self-motivated and the ability to drive without supervision.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Simply put – we power the future.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter.  Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

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